MR. A. BASSasked the hon. Member for West Surrey, Whether the Ecclesiastical Commissioners have, in pursuance of the power given them by the Ecclesiastical Commission Act of 1868, entered into a provisional agreement with the Dean and Chapter of Lichfield Cathedral for the transfer to the Commissioners of the corporate property of such Dean and Chapter; whether the said Dean and Chapter are prevented 1108 from carrying such agreement into effect by their Visitor, the "Bishop of Lichfield," refusing his assent thereto; and, whether any reason which, in the opinion of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, constitutes a legitimate ground for such refusal has been assigned by the Visitor, or is it understood by the Commissioners to exist; and, if so, what is the nature of the same?
§ MR. CUBITT, in reply, said, the facts were correct as stated by the hon. Member in his two first Questions. The right rev. Prelate (the Bishop of Lichfield), however, had given Notice in the other House of Parliament that he would move for Copies of the Correspondence on the subject, and that Correspondence, when presented, would give all the information which the hon. Member asked for in his third Question in a more complete form than the limits of an answer would allow.